Labyrinth Extended
by Sweet Christabel
Summary: A short one-off story. Extended version of the ending from the movie. Please read author's note or it won't make much sense. Please R & R


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the places or characters here except for the fairy queen.

Author's Note: This was a short story I wrote to read to a group of children in a school. They've been studying the Ancient Greeks and read the story of Theseus and the Minotaur. Then they studied modern re-tellings of the story and we showed them the video of Labyrinth. Their activity was to write their own Labyrinth story. Some of their ideas were quite good, (they're only 9 and 10 years old), but none of them had thought about issues such as the relationship between Jareth and Sarah and the fact that Jareth's character may not be completely evil. As you might expect from young children they didn't pick up on the fact that Jareth is in love with Sarah, so I touched on that loosely as well. The last thing I had to include was morals and the lessons that Jareth and Sarah learnt from each other. So when you're reading this story please bear in mind that it was written for children ï Thank you,

Sweet Christabel

Labyrinth Extended.

Sarah Williams felt her feet touch the carpet of the hallway and knew at once that she was back at home. The hall clock had just finished striking 12, and her father's words came back to her,

"We'll be back at midnight."

With a flash of horror she remembered why she was waiting at home for them. Toby!

Shouting her stepbrother's name she raced upstairs to her parents' room, where Toby had his cot. There he lay fast asleep, snuggled up in his blankets. Sarah smiled down at him and picked up her special bear, Lancelot.

"I'd like Lancelot to belong to you now," she whispered to Toby, tucking the bear in beside him.

She glanced once at the windows, half expecting to see the huge labyrinth before her once again, ready for her to solve it, but there was only the dark garden and nearby trees.

She walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her, and made her way to her own bedroom. Sitting down at the dressing table she picked up a small red book. She brushed her fingers over the gold title, 'The Labyrinth', and flicked through the pages. The story was very similar to her own adventures, only she hadn't been quite as noble or cunning as the princess in the book, she had just been plain old Sarah.

Downstairs she heard her father and stepmother returning from their evening out.

"Sarah! Are you home?" her dad called.

"Yes I'm home," she shouted back.

Her attention was drawn to the mirror on the dresser and she looked at her room's reflection, trying to work out what looked out of place. Then she had it. It was her friends, all coming to say goodbye, popping up in different places in the mirror. To Sarah's delight they told her that she could see them any time she wanted, she just had to say the right words.

"Should you need us," Hoggle was saying.

"I need you Hoggle. I don't know why, but every now and then for no reason at all, I need you," she told him, "All of you."

Jareth, former King of the Goblins lay somewhere very cold and very dark. He didn't know how long he had been there, only that he was there because of Sarah.

She was the first person of any species to solve both the labyrinth and the magical puzzles in his castle. There had been a very clever fairy a few years ago that had managed to make it through the labyrinth, but had found his room of stairs too confusing. She had gone through the labyrinth as a dare from one of her friends. Jareth had felt sorry for her, and made sure she didn't face any real danger.

Another time, an 11-year-old boy from Aboveground, (where Sarah and the rest of the human race lived), had wished his baby brother away and then decided it would have been more fun to keep him. The 11-year-old boy had been sent home with no memory of the goblins, the labyrinth or his baby brother, and Jareth had kept this young child, as the boy and the parents had been very cruel to him. Though a very complicated person, Jareth was not all bad, and would often take young children away from their cruel parents to keep them safe as part of his goblin kingdom.

Jareth still lay on the cold stone floor, when suddenly through the darkness he saw a bright white light heading towards him. When the light faded he recognised what had caused it. Within it's very centre there stood a young woman. Her hair was long and pure white, and her eyes shone a dazzling lilac colour. She wore a beautiful white coat over her simple dress, and shimmering wings could be seen at her back. She was Rain, the Queen of the Fairies, and Jareth's cousin.

"Tut tut, Jareth," she said shaking her head.

"Oh be quiet," he snapped grumpily.

Rain laughed, "Don't be so grouchy, I'm here on an errand to bring you back to the Underground and eventually back to your precious labyrinth."

Jareth looked at her, "Where is this place anyway?"

"It is the holding area."

"What's that?"

Rain sat down on the floor next to him, "It's where people are sent when they have nowhere else to go."

Jareth scowled, "I had a place to go, I had my castle and my labyrinth and I would like to know why I'm not still there."

"You are no longer ruler of the goblins."

"What?!" he exclaimed, "Then who is? Don't tell me you've put Hogbrain in my place."

"His name is Hoggle, and no I haven't. Sarah is ruler now."

Jareth couldn't believe his ears, "Sarah? Queen of MY goblins? How?"

"Because it was she who fought you and won. You must have known that if you built the labyrinth eventually someone would solve it."

"Nobody has ever solved it. Up until now anyway."

"Well now someone has," Rain said firmly, fluttering her wings and rising to her feet.

"And I'm no longer King. She's ruined me." Jareth said quietly.

Rain gave him a look of pity, "The reason why I was sent to you is because you are the one that has to tell her."

"And just how do I do that if I'm stuck here?" he asked miserably.

"She will call to you," Rain told him with a secret smile on her face. She began to walk away but then turned to add a last comment, "Oh, Jareth?"

"Yes?"

"Don't underestimate Sarah. Her will is as strong as yours."

Jareth remembered when Sarah herself had said those words to him, right before she had beaten him. He watched Rain walk a short distance away, then she spread her wings and flew until he could see her no longer. He found himself alone again, wondering exactly how he was going to get out of the strange dark place, and what he was going to say to Sarah.

He wasn't sure how long he stayed there for, perhaps it was 10 minutes or perhaps it was an hour, when he heard a voice in his head. It was Sarah's.

"I need you, all of you."

Jareth felt a fierce wind blow across the room, growing so strong that it actually lifted him up, raising him higher and higher until he realised he wasn't in the cold dark holding area anymore, he was Aboveground falling through the night sky. Thinking quickly he transformed into the white owl that Sarah had often seen sitting outside her window and flew towards the houses below. He knew which one was Sarah's and headed towards it, perching on the branch of the tree. Looking inside, he couldn't believe what he saw...

When Sarah said she needed all of her friends they had suddenly appeared in her room with her, including Ludo, whose huge size meant that he couldn't move around much in her tiny bedroom. She ran over and hugged everyone, hardly believing they were here. She had only had a few minutes with her friends when there was a knocking sound at the window. She turned to see a large white owl flapping its wings urgently against the glass. Sarah found herself fascinated by it and walked over to open the window.

Hoggle noticed what she was doing at the last minute and yelled, "Don't, Sarah!"

But it was too late, the owl flew around the room, beating its wings at the strange party of people. Everyone ducked, and Sarah began to wish she had left the window shut.

'Why do I always realise that a decision was wrong _after_ I've made it?' she thought.

The owl came to a stop perched on the rug and smoothly transformed into Jareth. Sarah gasped. She had thought that she had taken his powers away. Her friends all vanished back to the labyrinth after taking one look at Jareth's piercing stare, leaving her alone.

"What do you want?" she said coldly.

"You look surprised, Sarah, did you think you had killed me?"

"I hoped not. I don't like the idea of anyone being killed. I did think you had lost your powers though."

He spun his hand and a crystal appeared in it. He began to twirl the crystal, spinning it expertly from one hand to the other, "It would appear not."

Sarah started to feel annoyed, "Why have you come back?"

"To see you."

His answer took her by surprise, "Why? Why don't you just go back to your castle and leave me alone."

Jareth rolled his eyes, "That's the point, I can't."

"Why not?" Sarah frowned.

"Because I am no longer Goblin King. I cannot rule." Sarah did not understand, so Jareth explained further, "You are Queen of the Goblins now, you must rule in my place."

Sarah's jaw dropped, "What are you talking about? I can't do that, I've got school and I can't leave dad and Toby."

"Yes, that is a problem, which is why I think it would be good idea for you to name me King again."

Sarah looked at him slyly, "You just want to carry on being ruler, you aren't thinking about what's best for me."

"Well what would you propose we do?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

Sarah found herself surprised at how reasonable he was being. "A settlement between us," she suggested, "I defeated you, and am now ruler of the goblins. You have been ruler for many years and are probably quite good at it."

"I've been king for over 950 years," he grunted, "Of course I'm good at it."

Sarah chose to ignore this, and carried on with her speech, "I want to stay here, not live in the goblin city. So I propose this: I'll be Queen of the Goblins, but I'll stay here, and go to school as I said I wanted to do. You can carry on living in the castle and be my second in command. Basically, keep an eye on the goblins as you did before. When I'm older, I'll make you king again."

Jareth looked at her suspiciously, "Why are you doing this for me?"

"I'm not doing it for you," Sarah sighed, "I'm doing it for everyone else. If you don't have anything to do you'll bother all sorts of people. By keeping you in command, you'll be kept busy."

"I see."

Sarah took a deep breath. She was proud of herself for sticking up to Jareth as he still scared her a little, although she would never mention it to anyone.

"I'll only let you rule under a few conditions," she said boldly.

"Oh?"

"Yes. You have to be nicer to the goblins that serve you. And you're not allowed to steal babies."

"Sarah, most of the time we do that for good reasons."

"Well when there isn't a good reason, no more stealing."

"Anything else?" Jareth sighed.

"Be a bit nicer, generally."

"These are very difficult tasks you're setting."

"I should think you can be a little nicer after the lessons I taught you," Sarah told him,

"You can't bully everyone into giving you what you want. Sometimes it pays to be kind to people."

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hoggle in the mirror nodding his head in agreement. Sarah remembered how frightened of Jareth he used to be. It wouldn't do to have her goblin kingdom so scared.

"Don't look like that," she said to the former king, "You taught me lessons too. Now I realise how precious Toby is and I know never to put him in danger again."

Jareth smiled, "He was never in danger. My goblins looked after him."

"But you were going to turn him into a goblin!"

"That's what we do with unwanted children."

"But Toby _was_ wanted."

"I wasn't sure," Jareth said, "We get so many people who say that and don't mean it. I had to test you."

"Oh," Sarah said quietly, thinking she may have jumped to conclusions about Jareth.

"Now, may I finally go back to my castle?"

"Yes, but remember what we agreed."

He nodded. Before he left he turned and said, "Thank you, Sarah," before disappearing in a puff of glitter.

Sarah smiled.

In the years that passed, Sarah remained Aboveground until she had finished university. Sometimes she would go to the Underground and visit the goblin city, but everything was always peaceful.

Jareth had learnt some harsh lessons from Sarah, and had tried to be a better ruler to the goblins. He made Hoggle his chief gardener and Ludo became head of the goblin army. Sir Didymus went back to being keeper of the new bridge at the Bog of Eternal Stench.

Many years after Sarah's first visit to the labyrinth she moved to the goblin city to live in the castle. Sarah kept her promise to make Jareth king again after finding that they worked well together. They married and ruled over the labyrinth as Goblin King and Queen.

Toby grew into a clever and pleasant little boy who often went to the labyrinth to visit his sister. Someday, perhaps he will rule over the goblins too.


End file.
